Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Since we lost three elders last week, we got three NEW ones here in Swaziland! It is SO fun that it is such a SMALL WORLD 🌍 in the church!! One of our elders is from South Wales, where Elder Wold served his mission from 1970-72! It turns out that our good friend, Jim Gilmour performed Elder East's parents' marriage 33 years ago and his parents grew up with the Gilmour kids in Llanelli! Elder Mtyobile is from Cape Town, South Africa and was in the Langa Branch, which is the branch we visited with my brother and his wife in 2006, when he was mission president 2005-2008. Elder Mtyobile and his family were baptized in 2008. Our third new elder, Elder Musumhi, from Zimbabwe, stayed in Harare with a familyas his mom lives FAR away in a rural area. His "mum" whose email address he gave me, is the mother of our friend, Fekadu Yonas Haile's wife, Sarah!!

Elder East from Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales

with his companion Elder Sinclair from AZ

Elder Musumhi (who is a doctor) from Zimbabwe

Below is Fekadu with his wife, Sarah, and her brother at BYU - IDAHO

Elder Mtyobile from Cape Town, South Africa

L-R: Elder Francis, Elder Musumhi's companion and

Elder Brown, Elder Mtyobile's companion in Manzini

Our updated wall with our three new elders, Elder Myeni in Sierra Leone, Elders Willey and Pace back in Madagascar, and Elder Powell back home in New Zealand. We miss our elders who have moved on!

This looks like an accident, but it isn't!! This is just a perfect example of how CLOSE cars get to each other here... especially in parking lots, as you are pulling in or out of a parking space. They come within INCHES of your car as they try to squeeze past you!! 😲